


Truth or Dare

by sheron



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Almost Case Fic, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angie Martinelli (cameo), Developing Friendships, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, High School AU, Jason Wilkes (cameo), POV Daniel Sousa, Teenage Sleuth Detectives, Teenagers, Truth or Dare, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 15:31:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12135483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheron/pseuds/sheron
Summary: When Violet invites Daniel to the popular circle's game of Truth or Dare, he ends up getting caught up in more than just a game.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been sitting on my hard-drive since the fall of 2016, so I decided to whip it up into posting shape. 
> 
> Thank you to Sholio for generous hand-holding, cheerleading and plot hole spotting. Wait, that makes it sound like this has an actual plot, which is a lie... This is an excuse to re-imagine Peggy, Daniel and Jack in high-school together.

 

Daniel stared profoundly down at the beer in his hand, grateful for its presence. He'd been taking small sips, worried that he'd finish the bottle too soon and then have to grab another, or risk looking like he couldn't hold his liquor. Even if it was the first beer he ever had, and he could feel himself flush as its warmth spread along the limbs. It wasn't possible to get drunk off a single beer was it? At eighteen, Daniel felt like he should know this.

"Hey," fingers snapped imperiously in front of his face. He glanced up to see Jack, smirking at him from across the circle. "It's your turn."

With a drop in his stomach, Daniel became aware of the entire group looking at him, smiling and expectant. He couldn't screw up, not in front of this crowd.

"Um, okay." Daniel glanced at Angie, lying on the floor on her stomach, still blushing and giggling a little after having had to make out with Peggy for a full minute on a previous dare. He swallowed with some difficulty. "Um. Truth."

Groans went around the circle. Daniel glanced back down to his beer bottle, holding it like a talisman of protection against looking boring. Which he was. He was _so_ boring.

Violet patted his leg encouragingly from his side, sipping her drink through a straw. He was going to kill her for dragging him along to this, childhood friend or no. Even though they were all classmates, he hardly knew any of these people personally, and all of them were so much cooler and worldlier than him. Having been home-schooled for two years after the leg injury, Daniel always felt like the odd man out. Especially with guys like Thompson around, with his athleticism and perfect blond hair, and complete lack of nerves. 

"Too scared to try a little dare?" Jack said holding his stare. His grey eyes were laughing.

Jack hadn't backed down from picking dares for even a single turn. He and Peggy were the only two in their group who had a perfect track record of accomplishing that, even if it had cost Peggy a rather perilous trip to obtain the alcohol they were now drinking, in the dark carpeted basement filled with the popular kids ...and Daniel.

"I'm good, thanks," Daniel said. He tried not to look at Peggy so he wouldn't know if she was disappointed. Peggy was gorgeous and elegant, and pretty much the hottest girl on the planet as far as Daniel was concerned, but she was also nice and funny, and whip smart. So basically perfect, and completely out of his league. She was also wearing a red wool dress to die for, and it pooled in pretty waves around her on the floor.

Setting his mouth, Daniel glanced up and met Jack's eyes. No way was he going to chicken out.

"Okay, hmm." Then Jack threw his arms up, crossing them behind his head, well defined muscles rolling beneath the shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows, as he leaned his head back against the side of the sofa. The starched white shirt stretched across his chest. "What's your ultimate sexual fantasy?"

Claps and laughter from around the circle. Angie whistled and Jason said something into her ear that made her laugh harder.

"What?" Daniel choked out. They were in _high school_ for crying out loud. 

"Don't tell me you haven't fantasized about it," Jack grinned, like this was normal, like he wasn't even embarrassed. Jack shifted his eyes to Peggy. "Anyone in particular you'd like to climb into bed with?"

Peggy only rolled her eyes.

"C'mon, Danny-boy, spill." It sounded dirty coming from Jack's mouth. Jack picked up the clear bottle of vodka and stood it in front of Daniel. "Or if you'd rather forfeit and drink this...?"

Daniel shook his head. "It's um. Just regular stuff. You know. Getting blown and s-stuff."

Jack was smiling at him like he was an adorable puppy.

"Don't be an asshole." Jason rolled his eyes at Jack, slurring his words slightly.

"That was a shit answer, but ah well," Jack allowed magnanimously. He lifted his eyes up at the ceiling, where the rhythmic thumping had finally stopped. "Maybe you should go ask _Howard_ " ― he shouted that last ― "for some pointers." Howard and his latest girlfriend had disappeared pretty much at the very beginning of the game, without making it very ambiguous that they were going to use the upstairs bathroom to make out. There was no answer from upstairs, and Daniel didn't want to imagine why that would be.

He tried to focus his brain. It was his turn to spin the bottle and hopefully get through this evening with minimal loss of dignity. He prayed that the bottle would land on Peggy and give him a reason to talk to her. The bottle spun and landed on Jack. Naturally. Daniel bit his lip against a groan.

"Payback time," Peggy said sweetly, while Jack only winked back at her, seemingly unperturbed while he said: "Dare."

"Of course," Violet sighed. "Just don't say anything _really_ illegal." Like she was one to talk, having dared Peggy to get their alcohol.

Which only gave Daniel an idea. If Jack was so unruffled about the whole thing, Daniel was going to make him work for it. "Um. I dare you to go up on the Masters Tower―"

"Oh man," Jason groaned.

"―and record a video of you dancing on the rooftop and post it online."

Peggy snorted, and cowered it up by sipping at her beer.

"Right," Jack said, getting his feet under himself and standing up. He didn't even have the decency to sway. "We'd better get going then."

"What? No way," Violet said. "You can't actually think to break in there! They have security."

"Won't need to," Jack grinned. "I have the codes."

Angie rolling over on her back so she could look at him. She was definitely drunk. "How?" 

"Trade secret," Jack said, but everyone knew the tower's owner, Vernon Masters, was his family's friend, Jack had never let them forget all about his _connections_. He'd probably been up there before when Uncle Vernon was in town and seen the code somehow. 

Jack checked the expensive watch on his wrist, making Daniel wonder about the time. It had to be after midnight. His dad thought he was sleeping over at Violet's so that was alright, but still the late hour made everything feel edgier, more dangerous. Adult. 

Jack was saying, "Now, do we need two cars?"

"You're not driving," Peggy said, setting her own beer down and getting up, too and straightening a few strands of her dark hair.

"I'm perfectly coordinated," Jack said and as if to prove it touched one finger to his nose, then again, with the other hand.

"What you are is unbelievable," Peggy said exasperated. "We'll walk." She turned and smiled at Daniel. "That's okay with you, right? It's only a few blocks."

Daniel nodded. Of course it was okay with him as long as Peggy kept smiling. He needed Violet's hand to get himself up off the floor and settled on his crutch. Meanwhile Jason and Angie remained giggling and whispering into each other's ears on the floor.

"Those two are done," Jack rolled his eyes, stepping over Jason's legs on the way to the door. He motioned at Daniel. "C'mon, you have to bear witness."

"Um." Suddenly he didn't want to go, didn't want to be there when Jack turned the tables on him again, as he always did. But he imagined come Monday at school, Jack telling everyone how Daniel had chickened out on witnessing his own dare and knew he had no choice.

"Byeee―!" Angie waved dizzily. "See you online!"  


 

* * *

 

Vernon Masters was a media mogul, and of course as soon as he'd moved into their town he'd had to own the biggest office building around, promptly renaming it for himself. The Masters Tower was a 70-floor skyscraper and the reason Daniel had dared Jack to get on that particular rooftop was because it was the only place he could think of where he was certain not even Thompson could be pig-headed enough to try for. Now that they approached the back-entrance however, Daniel was beginning to appreciate the true depths of Jack's stubbornness. They were really going to do it. He was so screwed if his parents found out!

"Right, but even if you have the code," Daniel said, as they stood in the shade of a large oak tree outside the building's glass doors. "there's probably a night-guard walking around. We'll get kicked out."

"If we get to the roof, there are no cameras there," Jack said to Peggy, who nodded as though this constituted a plan that made sense, tapping her lip. She looked excited. 

Jack didn't _sound_ drunk, but that was the only possible explanation for his blasé attitude. After walking in the cool evening breeze, Daniel himself felt infinitely more sober, and couldn't believe they were considering an actual break in. If they got caught, if this affected their records they could kiss university admissions goodbye. And he'd brought it up, so he was responsible.

He turned to Violet to check that he wasn't the only sane person here, when she suddenly moved past him, hands clenched into fists at her side, determined.

"I'll distract the guard," she nodded at them, "you guys sneak past."

"How are you gonna do that?" Jack called after her.

Violet only turned her head over her shoulder and winked. And before any of them could shout after her, she dashed toward the front of the building.

Peggy and Jack smiled appreciatively in her wake, and nodded at each other. Daniel rubbed his forehead. This was so above his level.

The three of them trotted silently over to the back entrance, from where the front reception could just be seen at an angle through the all-glass floor. Violet was knocking on the front door, dancing impatiently as though she was uncomfortable, and when the security guard slowly walked her way to open the door for her, that's when Jack put in the code into the number pad on the opposite end, out of view of the guard, then pushed the back door open with a soft clang. They dashed across to the elevator, Daniel ever so grateful for the rubber tip to his crutch that prevented it from making any sound on the marble floor. Once they piled into the elevator, Jack punched in another code to get it moving to the top, then glanced up at the camera pointed directly at them and shrugged in a satisfied manner, "Still broken." The camera didn't blink with a red light which meant he was probably right, it was off. For the first time since he'd made the mistake of making this dare, Daniel let his left first unclench. Could they actually get away with this?

The elevator went to the 68-th floor, so the three of them had to find the stairs and make it up two remaining floors in near complete darkness. Both Jack and Peggy went faster than was comfortable for Daniel, but he almost appreciated that they didn't ask if he could make it. He'd had enough pitying looks at school, and he was definitely strong enough to make it up a few flights of stairs. In fact, Daniel suspected that with the physical regimen his hands and his one working leg were getting daily, he could probably bench-press most of the guys in school. But none of that mattered, because when Jack got to the metal door on the roof, he opened it gallantly for Peggy to pass through, bending down with one hand behind him, playing the perfect gentleman and making her snort, unladylike, at his attics again. Then he did the same for Daniel and smiled cheekily at the glare Daniel gave him.

Outside on the 70th floor, the night air was decidedly chillier. Peggy shivered in her open red dress, and Daniel wondered if she'd accept his jacket.

"Alright," Jack said scoping out the scene. "Rooftop. Camera. Check." He dug in his pocket and pulled out his cell-phone, fiddling with it, before passing it to Daniel. "Go on, Camera-man."

He jogged over to the edge and looked over it. Daniel saw his lips form a whistling motion, but the sound didn't carry because of the wind.

Peggy went over to Jack, and Daniel followed. She set her red purse on the ledge, crossing her arms on her chest and watching Jack as he considered the ledge in front of him. Her eyebrows lifted at the first sign of hesitation from Jack all night. "You're not scared of heights are you," she said archly.

"Nah," Jack answered, looking a little white in the glare of Daniel's phone screen. Jack glanced at Daniel, saw he was recording and straightened. "Well, kids, it's time."

Although now he looked distinctly uncomfortable, Jack grabbed at the thick concrete slab of the railing and vaulted on top of it, first crouching, then carefully standing up while he found balance. Daniel, still holding his cell-phone and recording, walked over to the edge and looked down. His head nearly spun.

" _Christ,_ " he muttered. It looked even further from here than in his imagination, the cars mere lights on the ground. The sound of sirens from firefighters going down one of the neighbouring streets came to them muffled from below. Wind was whipping at Jack's clothing, ruffling his hair wild. 

"This is not a good idea," Daniel said. Jack looked like he was thinking the same thing, but he was way too proud to admit it. He straightened and after a moment, the tense line of his lips relaxed.

"Alright, Peggy, we're gonna need your phone for music," Jack said, his arms out on both sides, for balance. He was taking a step forward, then backward on the concrete about a foot wide, as though he was practicing ballroom dance-moves. Daniel blinked and was startled by the strange grace to him. With his arms wide like this, wrists elegantly arched, Jack did look like a dancer. 

Peggy scrolled through the song list on her phone until she picked a soft melody that began to echo through the speaker. She upped the volume and set the phone on the ledge while Daniel and Jack both tilted their heads to listen. In the wind, the melody of Gershwin's _Moonlight Serenade_ echoed across the roof. 

"Perfect," Jack said and stretched out one hand towards Peggy.

"What?" She laughed at him, with arched brows at the gall of his assumption.

"I need a partner," he grinned, still holding out his hand. He had to balance with his back foot and Peggy looked nervously at Jack standing at that angle, waiting on her, before shaking her head.

"It's your dare, Jack!" she shouted over the wind and the music.

His hand made a come hither motion. "Come on, I'd look ridiculous dancing alone," Jack said, adding sweetly, "You're not scared of heights, are you?"

"Peg―" Daniel lifted a hand to stop her, but Peggy was already kicking off her red heels, and reaching out to take Jack's hand. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Daniel asked wearily.

"I'm not doing this in high-heels," Peggy said, missing his point entirely. She didn't even have the grace to look uncomfortable about the danger before she took Jack's hand to get up on the edge, her other hand holding her skirt down to her legs. Peggy wasn't scared of anything.

Daniel rubbed his forehead briefly, before he had to refocus on them, watching hawk-eyed in case either of them stumbled and he had to grab their stupid asses and drag them back down to the floor before they went over the edge.

Peggy straightened from a crouch slowly, her bare feet noiseless on the concrete.

"Don't do this at home, kids," Jack grinned toothily, holding on to Peggy's hand while she found her balance.

Peggy might have rolled her eyes, but she and Jack were forced to cooperate now, so she moved smoothly to set her hand on his broad shoulder. An unbalanced move from either of them could send them both tumbling down and they resolutely didn't look over the edge. With his arm on her back, Jack moved carefully forward, projecting the direction so she could anticipate it, and she stepped back, before stepping forward again in the motions of a slow dance.

Daniel was still holding the cell-phone recording this, but a part of him was mesmerized as he watched them move. It was hardly more than a careful repositioning of bodies, carrying the tension in their spines into the circle of their arms, as they navigated the ledge back and forth, but with the accent of danger in the air there was something magnetic about the sight. 

Peggy's bright red dress was a stark contrast against the shirt Jack wore, which glared brightly white in the illumination from the phone. The edges of Peggy's hair blended with the dark of the night sky. Daniel wished so badly he could be the one to hold her, but certainly with his lame leg he could hardly dare to imagine asking Peggy to dance. Never with the ease with which Jack had managed it. Jack just never seem to worry over what other people thought. Of course, it helped that everything went his way in the end, Daniel thought sourly.

The music dwindled eventually as the song came to an end. Jack and Peggy paused, looked back at her phone lying on the ledge.

"You got it?" Jack looked to Daniel, who could only nod, swallowing against the tightness of his throat. He shut off the video recording.

"And that's how it's done," Jack crowed to Daniel, unable to resist rubbing it in.

"Alright, alright," Daniel sighed wearily. "Let's just get out of here before we get caught."

He was never playing truth-or-dare with these two again. 

The two climbed down carefully, Peggy getting off the ledge first and giving Jack a hand on the way down. He hopped to the floor, looking flushed and smiling even though he had to be pretty cold in just the shirt and summer pants. Peggy was putting on her shoes when Daniel came over and put his jacket around her bare shoulders. She glanced up a little surprised, but smiled gratefully and shivered into the warmth of the thick jacket. Then she picked up her phone, where the next song was crooning softly, and shut it off. In the sudden silence of the roof, the three of them stood shivering.

Peggy looked up into the dark sky full of stars. "It's beginning to rain," she shuddered again under Daniel's jacket. It had started to drizzle, but he'd been so caught up he hardly noticed.

"Show's over. Time to go home," Jack said, leading the way to the door of the staircase down.

" _Or_ we could make something of our being here," Peggy said, pausing once all three of them were on the staircase, all the way on the 70th floor, seemingly lost in thought.

"You want to play another round?" Jack said doubtfully.

Peggy stared at him for a full second, before she blinked startled and said, "Yes! Yes, that's what I want." She avoided their eyes.

"Okay..." Jack said slowly. He looked about. "But we really―"

"Mr. Master's office is somewhere in this building, isn't it?"

"60th floor," Jack answered dutifully. He tilted his head, eyes glinting with suspicion in the low light. "What are you thinking of?"

Peggy's cheeks dimpled. "I'm thinking I'd like to visit."

Jack barked a laugh. Daniel looked doubtfully at Peggy. "We're lucky we didn't get caught so far. I'm sure he has all kinds of security in place, right Jack?"

Peggy crossed her hands in front of her and tilted her head at Jack, prompting him with a look.

"Well, he doesn't have cameras around his office," Jack said. "But he's got a security lock on the door, all the same."

"Are you saying you can't get us inside?" Peggy smiled.

"Not saying that," Jack's voice turned smoky hot, and he stared blandly at Peggy, a little smile tugging on his lips. "What do I get if I do?" Daniel envied him his ability to flirt casually. Whenever Daniel talked to Peggy his heart beat so loud in his ears, he could barely hear himself speak. Jack made it look so easy.

"I'll owe you one," Peggy allowed with an answering smile of her own. "Do you know the code?"

"A little birdie told me," Jack's sly smirk widened. He rubbed his hands together. "Alright, we'll do it. We just have to be quick. I don't know when the night guards make their rounds."

"Guys, do you really think that's a good idea?" He didn't know why he bothered.

"Ah, Danny-boy." Jack put an unexpected hand around Daniel's shoulders, bringing him in close, "I don't know if you've noticed, but this whole evening has been a train of bad ideas. You can tell, because they're the ones that are the most fun." His hot breath brushed Daniel's cheek. "You're not _scared_ are you?"

Peggy rolled her eyes at them impatiently and started down the stairs. 

Jack laughed when Daniel pushed him off with an elbow, bouncing on his feet before choosing to run down the stairs at a brisk pace. Daniel's progress down was much slower. On the sixtieth floor, Peggy paused and poked her head out into the hallway.

"His office is all the way in the back."

Daniel sighed. "What about security?"

Jack shrugged. "Technically there's supposed to be a pair of night guards patrolling the building every few hours, but Vernon's cut their budget so there's only the one guy out front every shift. So security's shit."

"That penny-pinching miser," Peggy said wonderingly. "But that does make our lives easier."

They made it to the door of Vernon's office, where another keypad, this one smaller and more elegant looking prevented access. Peggy tapped her foot impatiently while Jack entered the code, carefully precise.

"Hold your horses," he muttered.

"You realize we could get into serious trouble for this?" Daniel said, even as there was a soft clang from the door's lock sliding open.

Peggy glanced at him distractedly. "You're right, you don't have to come in."

"Oh, hell no, I'm coming in." Daniel pushed open the door with his cane.

She glanced up at that and Daniel got the impression she was taking his full measure for a second, before she shrugged one delicate shoulder and walked inside.

Daniel entered the office immediately after Peggy, who made a bee-line for Vernon's desk by the window.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jack hissed, shutting the door carefully behind him. 

The office was rather large and Daniel tore himself away from looking for cameras ― Jack was right there were none ― to watch Peggy begin to rifle through the files lying on Vernon's desk.

"Do you think I came all this way just for a dance?" Peggy said, not looking up from where she was methodically looking through Vernon's work files. "Oh, this is interesting..." she took her phone out of her bag and snapped a picture.

"Alright, Veronica Mars." Jack sounded annoyed. "What's going on here?"

Peggy glanced up from the files, considering the moniker, shrugged and went back to what she was doing without an answer.

"C'mon, Peggy." Jack came over to her, frowning, putting a hand over the document she was reading, pressing it down to the desk. "What kind of a game are you playing?" Peggy tried to slide the files from under Jack's fingers, but he only pressed them harder to the desk. He was a full head taller, but Peggy's expression was set stubbornly and she didn't look worried as Jack towered over her.

Daniel walked closer, trying not to seem too out of his depth. He looked at the papers Jack and Peggy were arguing over, but it was just some black and white reports. Nothing interesting, nothing to warrant the heated stares these two were exchanging. He glanced curiously at Peggy. "What are you trying to do?"

Peggy pursed her lips. She answered Daniel when she wouldn't tell Jack, "Pursuing the truth." But she let go of the files, stepping back and setting a hand on her hip. Satisfied that she'd stopped her meddling, Jack let go as well.

"What you should be pursuing is another drink." Giving her a hard look first, Jack went behind her back towards the other side of the desk where a small mini-fridge stood. He crouched nearby, fiddling with the lock. He didn't seem to have trouble with this one either, opening it with ease.

"Seriously, Jack, how the hell do you know about all this stuff?" 

"Pretty sure Vernon doesn't think I have a working brain cell," Jack replied with a shrug, and laughed like it was a joke. He didn't see Peggy and Daniel exchange a look behind his back. "But joke's on him, because I know... where he hides his secret stash!" He rose up, and was holding a bottle of light-orange liquid in his hand. With a smirk, he stretched it out to Daniel.

"Thanks, I've had enough."

Jack shrugged, lowering his hand. "More for me and Peggy. Right, Peggy?" He went as though to open the liquor bottle.

"You've _definitely_ had enough," Peggy said, grabbing the bottle out of his hand and setting it on the desk nearby.

"Could you be more of a mother-hen?" Jack sighed, but didn't fight her on this. He fell down into the leather chair at Vernon's desk, moving the mouse of the computer a little, making the screen spring to life. "Let's see what we have here." He typed a few numbers and his face split in a satisfied smile. "He never changes his password."

"But seriously," Daniel couldn't help his curiosity, "how come you know how to get around this place so well?" 

"I dated Vernon's granddaughter for a while." 

"Ah," Daniel replied delicately. He could easily imagine Jack charming the information out of an impressionable teenage girl, eager to impress.

Jack was clicking around the computer and after a moment he brought up what was obviously a video feed from the front of the building and the cameras in the main elevators. All but one picture showed an empty cabin, and Daniel had to guess the one block on the screen that was blacked out was the broken video camera in the service elevator they took to get upstairs.

"Yep," Jack gave a smug little grin. "Vernon dotes on her, so she has pretty much a free reign on his properties. The password is her birth-date."

It was strange to think that someone old and craggy like Masters might have a family, let alone love them, but then everyone had someone they cared about. Case in point: Jack and Peggy bickered like siblings from time to time, but on several occasions that very evening Daniel had observed them looking out for each other. 

Just then, Peggy was looking pissed at Jack for hogging the computer, but he didn't look the least bit likely to let her use it. She tapped her heeled shoe against the floor, considering him.

"Do you know his e-mail password?"

Jack clearly thought she was on a wild goose chase. "Police seized the company accounts. Anything on here has been combed through by experts."

"That's why I'm looking for his personal email account."

"I'm not a miracle worker." Jack spread his hands. 

Daniel could see frustration on Peggy's face, but she didn't let it rule her and only turned her head to look around the office. "There has to be something."

"If we aren't gonna drink, what are we doing here?" Jack looked up at Peggy, leaning back on Vernon's leather chair. "It's your turn to pick anyway, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Peggy said promptly, making Daniel blink. "Do you honestly think Vernon Masters is clean?"

"I think you've got this backwards, we're the ones asking the questions," Jack said, but he couldn't seem to help himself; he answered. "But as a matter of fact, yes. Uncle Vernon is rich and powerful, which makes all sorts of people jealous. I never pegged you for one of those who listens to gossip."

"It's not gossip that he's got several lawsuits against him by family businesses he swindled out of hard-earned money."

"So they say." Jack waved her off. Daniel, who had actually heard one of his father's friends talk about it one late evening at their place, complaining about never being able to recoup his loses, thought Jack was rather apathetic to dismiss the claims of all these different people. Daniel tended to side with Peggy: Vernon was a shady character and who knew what else was going on behind the scenes.

Peggy sounded implacable. "He's also involved in that mess with the construction site that collapsed on Main street."

" _Allegedly._ " Jack's voice also grew hard.

"Two people lost their lives! He's slithered out of that one with the help of his lawyers, but that won't last forever. I'm conducting an investigation into his affairs," she shrugged an elegant shoulder. "Tonight's chance to look at his private files was too good to pass up."

"An investigation?" Jack reared back as if burned. He stood, leaning forward on Vernon's desk between them. "What are you, a teenage sleuth-detective? You must be out of your mind!"

"I owe it to the people in this town."

"You owe―!" Jack started, and cut himself off. "Don't do this, Peggy. You're chasing bogeymen."

"Haven't you ever wondered why Jason lives with his grandma?"

For a moment Jack's lips pressed together. Then he shrugged one seemingly disinterested shoulder. "His parents moved away."

"He wants to finish his final year at our school." Peggy said quietly but with a burning intensity, " _Vernon Masters_ ," ― the name sounded foul ― "ran his smear campaign against Jason's father, until Sheriff Wilkes had no choice but to step down. He can't afford to live in this neighbourhood anymore, so Jason went to live with his grandma until he graduates."

"Vernon was only exposing the truth," Jack drew himself up. The answer sounded rehearsed and Daniel wondered if this was the first time they'd had this particular argument. 

"Oh, please." Peggy gave an exaggerated eye-roll. "You can't be that naive."

For himself, Daniel was surprised he hadn't known that about Jason. The guy went through the day same as always, laughing and joking with them earlier, but in retrospect Daniel remembered something in last year's news about the older Mr. Wilkes and a corruption scandal. Perhaps he'd missed more than he realized. Jack and Peggy meanwhile were nose to nose in a heated argument.

"You're so determined to protect dear Jason. He's playing the wounded dove and you're lapping it up, all ready to leap to the rescue and ignore the obvious facts. I think you're the one being naive."

"Facts?" Peggy cried out. "You mean lies and fabrications!"

"What's got you in such a dither?" Jack was saying in a cloyingly sweet tone, "Are you nursing a crush?" High spots of color appeared on Peggy's cheeks and Jack pounced on that little show of weakness. "Getting a bit emotional there, Marge. Is it that time of the month?" 

Daniel hung his head even as Peggy's expression went through a complex change from exasperation and hurt to a solid wall of frustrated belligerence. 

"Do you even hear yourself?" Peggy's voice was deadly soft with rebuke. "That's our classmate that we're talking about. Our _friend_." She drew herself up, fist clenched at her side and nearly trembling with tension, "You close your eyes and you choose not to see anything that goes on around this town, Jack, but that doesn't make it go away. Vernon Masters has to be stopped, you're just too blind to see it. Or too much of a _coward_ to do something about it."

Daniel was surprised she hadn't decked him. Although from Jack's expression, he rather looked like she had. Daniel glanced between them curiously, trying to figure them out, but a blank curtain had come down on Jack's expression and he said curtly, rising from the chair.

"I think we've overstayed our welcome here. Let's go."

"Oh, not before I take a look." Peggy walked around the desk, and squeezed into the chair Jack had just vacated. He glared down at the top of her head, but she just kept a smile fixed on her face as she tapped away at the keyboard.

"What the hell?" Jack cried out. "We need to leave. Now."

"Shush. I'm trying to concentrate," Peggy snapped.

Daniel and Jack glanced at each other, then Jack grimaced and swung away from her, throwing his hands up briefly in exasperation. "Well, hurry up!" he snapped, frustration in every line of his body, but she only clacked away at the keyboard.

"He synchronizes his accounts?" she muttered, clearly oblivious to Jack's pacing in front of the desk. Then she frowned, "But there's _nothing_ here. This hard-drive is completely clean."

"Told you," Jack huffed.

"Nobody's hard-drive is that clean if they are using it. There should at least be some kind of activity. I could scan for deleted files..."

Daniel wasn't much into computers, but he'd picked up enough in Ms. Roberts class to know that even after deleting the files from the operating system there were ways to retrieve them, unless you securely wiped the data, akin to putting a paper through a shredder. While Peggy went online and downloaded a free tool to scan for the files on Vernon's machine, Jack could only fume.

Silent and hiding an unwilling smirk at Jack's obvious discomfiture, Daniel walked around Vernon's office, taking a look around. It really was a good-sized room, with large metal frame windows down to his waist. Like most of what Vernon owned it seemed to be designed to accentuate wealth over practicality. The sheen of money was in every piece of furniture, but if you scratched under the thin veneer, you could see that it was bought for form over function. Just like the whole building, which looked like an impenetrable fortress from outside, but was actually a mirage full of unmaintained hallways and poorly paid staff when you came in.

Vernon's office did have many comforts of home, not even counting the private bathroom, including tastefully decorated walls with still-life paintings and long, green velvet draperies around the windows. The man clearly spent a great deal at the office, which fit with Daniel's picture of him: a regular workaholic. He'd just paused in front of the large man-sized cabinet in the corner of the room, opening it and glancing inside only to find a pair of expensive suits hanging neatly on the rack, when Jack said nervously, "Oh shit."

Daniel looked over from studying the contents of Vernon's closet. Jack and Peggy were staring horrified at the computer monitor. "What is it?"

Jack threw Daniel a horrified look. "Vernon's in the elevator."

Peggy didn't look up. Her fingers flew faster over the keyboard, likely trying to hide her use of the machine.

Daniel felt a cold dread pass over him. "What? It's the middle of the night!"

"He's heading here." Jack looked frantically around. "He's got security with him. But I know there are no cameras in this room. He told me he wouldn't want anyone to record him here."

Peggy glanced at Jack. "A silent alarm?" Her face was pale and two splotches of color showed high on her cheeks. 

"We need to get out of there!"

Peggy looked around the room. "Can we hide in the bathroom?" She finished cleaning up her tracks and pushed away from the computer. Daniel walked over to stand on the other side of her, to look at the monitors.

"I don't know!" Jack said. He looked more than a bit freaked out, and Peggy's eyes tracked his face in concern. "Those men with him are hired security. He has to be heading our way."

Daniel looked at the camera screens and his eyes widened. "He got off on our floor. There are two guards with him."

Jack ran a frantic hand through his hair. "Shit."

"We could hide in this cabinet?" Daniel said, striding over. "Then when he leaves, we sneak out."

Jack said, "What if he opens it?"

"In case you haven't noticed, he's going to be here any second!" Daniel said quickly, already opening the door to the cabinet and clambering inside noisily because of his crutch. Inside he was quickly pressed up with his back against the wall behind him, Vernon's dry-cleaned suits cushioning his sides. Upon reflection, he wasn't sure there'd be room for all three of them in here.

"Alright. Fine." Jack said, grabbing Peggy's hand and tugging her towards Daniel. "Get in."

"What about you?" Peggy asked, one leg in the cabinet, turning her head to Jack.

"I'll hold him off," Jack said.

He pushed Peggy inside with Daniel and shut the cabinet's door behind her.

Daniel, finding his arms suddenly full of Peggy, froze up against the back wall. His hands had gone around her as he tried to stop her momentum, and the softness of the skin of her bare arms was startling. She stood still within his embrace, and they both listened as the door to Vernon's office creaked open. Peggy wore the subtlest of some flowery perfume. The curls of her hair brushed lightly against Daniel's cheek, making electricity race up his spine.

"Jack?" Vernon's voice sounded muffled through the door of the cabinet, made loud by his surprise. 

"Uncle Vernon?" His surprise was flawless. Jack really was a good actor. That's why Daniel wondered if he imagined the note of fear in Jack's next words, or if he put it there on purpose. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that question, boy," Vernon said. His tone had changed from surprise to suspicion. "And get your feet off my desk!"

"Sorry!" Jack must have jumped up, because there was a sudden clatter, followed by a clang of what might have been a chair's back hitting the wall.

"How the hell did you get in here?" Vernon continued. 

"I can explain!" Jack said.

Meanwhile, Vernon was saying, "I've got this. You can go now." The multiple "Yes, Sir"s that followed meant he had been talking with the security he'd brought along. The door to the office closed, sealing Jack and Vernon (and Peggy and Daniel by extension) inside. Now that he'd had time to process who he was dealing with, the suspicious concern had mostly gone out of Vernon's voice. He sounded grouchy and impatient.

"You get me out of my bed in the middle of the night for...what is this, a prank?" With his audience gone, Vernon's voice rose. "Are you seriously that childish?"

"I―didn't think it through, sir." Jack said.

"No, no you haven't." Vernon sounded churlish and...disappointed. "What were you hoping to achieve? And where did you get the building codes from?"

"I'd rather not say, sir."

There was heavy silence. "Jack," Vernon said with a quiet intensity. "You seem bright. You want your father to be proud, don't you?"

"Yes, sir."

"You want to have a good job in the future, don't you?" Jack might have nodded, his response was unnecessary in any case. "Breaking and entering doesn't look good on anyone's record. Do you know what a criminal charge can do to a young man's budding career?" And when Jack remained silent, Vernon went on, "Yes, I am considering it. It would break my heart, but it might teach you a valuable lesson."

Peggy's soft, inaudible breaths brushed Daniel's cheek as they continued to hide. For himself, Daniel didn't dare breathe in the silence that followed. 

"Well," Vernon said grimly. "Well," he repeated, each word more disappointed than the next. "I'd like to help you Jack, but you need to help me first. Who gave you the code? Was it Mike downstairs?"

"No," Jack's voice came softly, like a submissive dog in front of his master. 

"Then who?"

"You don't want to know, sir."

" _Damn it_ , Jack. Who are you protecting?" And then there was a startled drawing of breath. "Is it Marilyn?" He cursed under his breath. "That _child_."

"Your granddaughter adores you. She didn't mean to cause any trouble," Jack hurried to say. "I was the one who thought it would be fun to break in and, well," he coughed as if to cover embarrassment, "I wanted to pretend to be you for a bit, sir."

"Did you?" Vernon's tone was considering.

"You're a powerful man," Jack went on tentatively, as though he was still finding his footing in this new lie he was constructing on the fly. "I've been thinking about what it might be like to be like you."

"And you think I sit around at my desk, with my feet up, is that it?" Vernon said irritably, but some of the anger had gone out of his voice. He really was buying Jack's line, Daniel thought, impressed. "Don't get your hopes up. You're going to have to put your nose to the grindstone first if you want to achieve any kind of a success." Vernon snorted. "Though you certainly have the looks for the job."

"Please don't punish Marilyn," Jack said. "She was just trying to impress me."

"You let me deal with my granddaughter myself." Vernon stated firmly. "As for you, Jack..."

"I'm sorry. This was reckless. I―"

"You clearly have too much time on your hands," Vernon said. "Don't think I can't tell you've been drinking. I'll have a talk with your father about that." And then magnanimously, "Don't worry, I won't file charges." 

" _Thank you_ , sir." In that moment, Jack sounded painfully sincere.

"You owe me," Vernon noted. "And you'll have to make it up to me someday."

"Yes, sir."

"But for now, I'd just like to get back to my bed, and I suspect you'd like to go home and sober up."

"I would, sir."

"Let's go." The old man sighed, like a disappointed parent.

"...Do you want me to clean up around here?" Jack said, hesitating. Daniel couldn't see Peggy's eyes in the darkness of the cabinet but somehow he felt her looking straight at him. He knew what they were both thinking: Jack was trying to stay behind to get them out, but it was a flimsy excuse at best.

"No, I think I'll escort you out myself." Vernon said, impatient now that the crisis had passed. "Let's go."

"Right." Daniel imagined the glance Jack might have thrown their way, but there was no way to tell. They were locked in the darkness until the other two left.

Peggy and Daniel both flinched slightly as the door slammed shut behind Vernon and Jack. The two of them must have stood there for a dozen moments, worried they could come back.

"Jack's good," Daniel admitted softly once he dared to speak.

"Yes," Peggy said, but she didn't sound happy at all.

"We have to get out of here." Daniel carefully creaked the cabinet open, peaking out over the soft curls of Peggy's brown hair. "If opening the front door causes the silent alarm to go off, Vernon's going to know."

"If we move now, he'll think he forgot to shut the door properly. Let's go." Peggy jumped out of the closet and Daniel clambered painfully after her. Standing still like that, without being able to shift his weight, had cost him a great deal of pain in his bad leg.

"Are you alright to move?" Peggy asked over her shoulder. She was already to the door.

"Yeah, I'll make it." They moved quickly out into the hallway, then ran ― or in Daniel's case crutched as quickly as possible ― their way to the emergency staircase.

"They are probably making rounds. The elevators aren't safe," Peggy said.

"We'll have to use stairs." Daniel said firmly, trying not to think too hard about what this would do to his body. He started the painful climb down, one concrete step at a time. Peggy watched him from the top landing for a second, before she followed,, her hand light on the metal railing. Daniel was grateful she didn't speak.

The climb down from the 60th floor would have wearied a healthy man. With a crutch it felt interminable. 

"Do you think Jack's alright?" He said at some indeterminate point.

Peggy was quiet for a second. "I'll text him to let him know we're okay." She paused, whipping out her phone, while Daniel continued the difficult climb down the staircase.

He sighed as he went. "Was tonight worth the risk?"

"Hard to say," she answered blithely and gave him an entirely fake smile when he stopped on one of the landings, both to catch his breath and look up at her. 

That wasn't gonna fly anymore. "Peggy, tell me the truth."

"I thought we were done playing games," she said. "Besides, you know I always pick dare." She tried to push past him, but Daniel said a hand softly on her elbow, stopping her in her tracks. When avoidance didn't work, Peggy shook her head wearily and sighed, saying, "Okay, you really want in on this?"

Daniel nodded, heart fluttering a bit.

"Masters' has an iron grip on everyone in this town," Peggy's eyes heated up with her words. "Did you see his presser with the Chief of Police the other day? He walks on water around here." If she wanted to scare him off, she didn't manage it. After a moment, Peggy admitted, "I _was_ hoping I could find some dirt on him, get him to show his true face."

"Did you?"

Peggy hesitated. "No. The quick scan showed the hard-drive was wiped clean."

Daniel was pretty quick on the uptake. "Which probably means that he had something to hide."

Her eyes sparked, a quick evaluating look searched his face. That hadn't been the response she was expecting. 

Peggy nodded, a quick jerk of the head. This wasn't a game to her, not at all. Mouth dry, Daniel suddenly thought about what they were really doing here and how serious it was if Masters was dirty.

Peggy put a hand on his arm, squeezing a little as she met his eyes. "He needs to be stopped." She bit her lip and looked away. "I wish we could go back to the office and look around some more but...Jack bought us time; we can't let him down."

Even though Peggy and Jack had a contentious relationship, she didn't want to hurt him or get him in trouble.

Daniel gave her a smile. "We'll just have to think of another way."  


 


	2. Chapter 2

 

Daniel didn't sleep the rest of the night. 

After he and Peggy snuck out of the building the back way, they'd trotted quite a distance before being able to stop looking over their shoulders. Nobody had followed them. It seemed that Jack had been convincing in his performance. By that point Daniel could hardly walk he was in so much pain. Peggy called for a taxi and under the judgmental stares of the driver, the two of them made it back to Howard's. 

The rest of their friends had already passed out in drunken exhaustion. Violet had returned over an hour earlier, and crashed hard while waiting up for them. At their ringing and knocking, she unlocked the door and waved them sleepily inside the house, rubbing her eyes and barely able to work up any interest in what they'd been up to. She was wearing her Winnie the Pooh pajamas and padded upstairs to the bedroom she was sharing with Angie. The house was even more of mess than before they left, but at least Howard didn't need to worry about his parents showing up before that was taken care of ― they were in Hawaii.

Daniel and Peggy played rock-paper-scissors for the only empty sofa, and in the end Peggy ended up stretching out on some blankets on the floor, over all of Daniel's objections went ignored. He got the sofa. Even so, he tossed and turned the whole night, too wired to sleep. He'd liked to have said it was because of the thrill of adventure, but the truth wasn't so noble. Whenever he thought about their time on the rooftop, his heart beat like mad. And the thought of how Peggy had ended up pressed up enticingly to him while they hid...it did things to him.

The next morning Peggy's friends teased them about their trip to the tower building while they fought for the bathrooms, which were plentiful and yet still somehow all occupied. There was no question of telling everyone what had actually happened, so between the two of them, Peggy and Daniel hatched up the most obvious cover-story, that Jack had been caught while he was inside the building and Peggy and Daniel had escaped shortly after unnoticed. The video recording of the dance was on Jack's phone, and he hadn't responded to Peggy's texts, the fact that visibly bothered her. 

In short, everyone believed that Jack failed the dare, but a game that had seemed so exciting the night before felt childish in the morning. Their friendly ribbing soon turned to Jason, moaning quietly in the corner over his hangover, while Angie, who drank more than him, was perky as only a morning person could be. By afternoon, everyone split off to go their separate ways. Daniel wondered if he imagined the lingering look Peggy gave him as they said their goodbyes and went opposite ways.

On Monday, when they were all in school, Daniel found himself looking for Jack despite himself. They rotated in completely different circles and only had Math and English together, both in the afternoon, so it was only at lunchtime that Daniel finally spotted the familiar blond head in the cafeteria. Peggy sat across from Jack, talking to him quietly. Daniel took a deep breath and crutched over to them.

"Hey! So are you grounded?" His question that had seemed so casual and chill in his head came out blunt and awkward as both Peggy and Jack turned to look at him.

"Daniel!" Peggy said with a smile, and pushed a chair back so he could sit down. He did so, slowly at first because of the way Jack was looking at him.

"Grounded?" Jack wondered with a bewildered look. "What are we, five?"

"I mean, Mr. Masters said―" Jack made an impatient gesture with his hand, hurrying him along to spit it out, and Daniel rushed onward. "He said he'd tell your father about you drinking." He glanced at Peggy, to confirm the validity of his concern, and she nodded. Daniel continued, "Dad would _freak_ if he knew what I was up to Saturday night." 

Jack only frowned. "My father expects me to take responsibility for my choices. He was...disappointed that I embarrassed his good friend. But he left the punishment in Uncle Vernon's hands since he's the injured party." Jack shrugged.

"What do you have to do?" Daniel leaned forward, wide-eyed.

Jack only snorted. "Vernon's got me reading some old company reports. He calls it education, but in reality it's punishment by boredom." He tilted his head after a moment, studying Daniel. "What, you expected that he'd throw me into his dungeon somewhere and have me whipped?" He rolled back one white sleeve, showing unblemished skin, "I assure you, Vernon's far from the Evil Overlord that you take him for." Jack rolled the sleeves back and went on, even as Peggy's frown grew, "I just don't know how to convince you two chuckle-heads that all you have here is an old guy who happens to be a businessman, and a bunch of bad press that seems to tie him to something shady. That can happen to anyone."

"Not everyone has got shady deals checkering their past," Peggy said.

"How would you know?" Jack asked. "Nobody's entirely clean."

"Some people are," Peggy said firmly.

"Name one person," Jack taunted. "I'll prove to you they've got their dirty secrets like the rest of us."

"Michael," Peggy said. "Michael was such a person."

Jack's face flashed with sudden uncertainty, quickly hidden. He didn't answer.

Daniel blinked, and then Peggy was getting up with a half-smile playing on her face. There was something hard behind it. "Well, I have to get to class," and with a swirl of her skirt she was cutting across the cafeteria, other students parting like the sea in front of her.

"...Michael?" Daniel looked askance in her wake, before turning to Jack. "Who's Michael?"

"Her brother," Jack gave him an odd look.

"Oh. I didn't know Peggy has a brother."

"Had. Car accident. Drunk driver," Jack said shortly. "She doesn't talk about it." 

After they sat in silence for another moment Jack got up and left without even a word, like Daniel was so inconsequential as to be forgotten entirely. Daniel sat at the now-empty table feeling like he'd never fit in with this bunch. 

Jack, who definitely got on Peggy's nerves a great deal, still knew her better than Daniel did, despite the crush Daniel was willing to admit he might be nurturing. There was just so much that he wasn't a part of because of the stupid injury that had side-lined him for a year and a half. If he wasn't injured, he'd have had a part in her life. Before the injury he'd been trying out for the lacrosse team, he'd actually liked sports. Now he couldn't even do exercises with the rest of the guys because their school didn't have enough disabled students to make a separate class possible. Most of Daniel's gym classes were spent doing push-ups and sit-ups while watching the rest of the class run and play team sports. Sometimes it gave him a good vantage point to watch the girls play volleyball on the other side of the field. (Admittedly, he watched Peggy more than the rest).

More than that, if he hadn't gotten injured he would have graduated already. He'd lost time after the accident and was subsequently a year older than all of his classmates. Even so, every one of them seemed to embrace life more fully than Daniel was capable off. The party at Howard's was the most exciting thing that had happened to him in...he couldn't even remember.  


 

* * *

 

Tying Vernon to the construction accident gone bad wasn't just a matter of hoping hard enough that evidence would present itself. He had changed the building codes in the Tower so they couldn't go back, and without access to his computer they couldn't get into his online accounts even if they had a password. He would get a security alert about unknown device and location, and their game would be up before they learned anything. Not that they were in any danger of finding out his passwords, since Jack was clearly on the outs with Marylin and not interested in enabling Peggy's investigation besides that.

After they sifted through the photographs Peggy took of the papers in Vernon's office they had a couple of names that could be leads. At first Peggy thought Whitney Frost, one of the phone numbers, was such a lead, but shortly after Peggy was certain they were having an affair, which made Jack scoff in disbelief. Anyway, an affair was a scandalous suggestion, since Whitney was married, but it didn't get them any closer to proving Vernon's flawed business practices had led to the death at the construction site.

The construction accident had been blamed on poor materials and shoddy outsourced craftsmanship by one of the construction workers who was serving time. Vernon's lawyers had argued Vernon had no knowledge of the types of metal paneling that the construction company ordered to be purchased, had no knowledge of its load carrying strength or how it would buckle under stress. Vernon wasn't an engineer, he hired people for that. His signature was on all the right documents, produced at the trial, ordering purchase of the best kinds of materials. A down-on-his luck site supervisor facing criminal negligence charges had argued that those weren't real work orders, that the company had purchased much cheaper materials on Vernon's word-of-mouth instructions, explicitly to save on costs. This was just how business was always done when it came to Masters, they said: the papers said one thing, the unofficial instructions another. The seasonal workers hired had been brought on the cheap, and didn't have the accreditation to work on this type of building. Some were now serving time, others paid fines. But who would believe a word of mouth of one of the accused? A construction manager who had put his own men in danger? Vernon had walked away scoot free.

Having seen the insides of his tower, his broken down cameras and the security guard who worked alone, Daniel easily convinced himself that Peggy was onto something. Vernon was simply too much of a scrounge to have shelled out for the best materials that were listed on the official documents.

Too bad gut feelings didn't count for much in the cold light of day.

Too bad Jack was determined to make everything difficult for them as soon as he heard that Daniel had gone over to Peggy's side. Jack was fuming about that, and not trying to hide it.

"Thought you were smarter than this, Danny-boy," he sneered in the cafeteria, kicking back in the chair. "But I guess we aren't talking about using upstairs brain here, are we?"

"Must you be crass," Peggy said without looking up from her paperwork. She was neck deep into matching phone numbers and dates with names.

"I just don't understand why you're so set on protecting him," Daniel asked eventually, honestly baffled by Jack's blindness, having previously looked up to him as a great connoisseur of human nature in their class. Jack had seemed so impervious to having wool pulled over his eyes, too cynical by far. And here he was, clutching blindly to straws. Daniel had to try again.

"You know him," He spoke quietly, so they wouldn't be overheard. School cafeteria wasn't the place for hashing this out again, but between end-of-term exams and university applications they didn't have a lot of free time, so they used what they could. And they could never seem to stop talking about this one sticking point, whether to trust Vernon's word. Behind his eyes was a prickling of a headache. 

Jack sighed explosively and rolled his eyes. Daniel brimmed with frustration. "You know the kind of man he is!"

"The important kind?" Jack said drolly. 

Daniel kicked back in his chair. There was no talking to Jack when he was like this. 

"You think you can get anywhere in this world without running into people just wanting to tear you down?" Jack asked. "Vernon's gone places, he's pissed off people with the kinds of deals he's made, and now they're out to tar and feather him."

"Bloody hell, Jack." Peggy's eyes flashed as she tore her attention away from her work. "You're making Vernon into a martyr? He's the one who is suffering here? What about Jason?"

"Jason had a run of bad luck," Jack said stubbornly. "He'll get past it. Vernon has nothing to do with―"

"You must be blind," Peggy cut him off, sounding heavily disappointed. "What will it take for you to admit the truth to yourself? Someone else getting hurt?"

"Nobody is gonna get hurt." Jack pushed up off the chair, rising to his full height. He set his hands on the table and leaned forward until he and Peggy were face to face. She didn't move back, didn't flinch when he breathed into her face. "It was an ac-ci-dent." He stared at Peggy for a long time, not moving back, towering over her. "Vernon's innocent and you are too thickheaded to see it."

"Vernon's just another bully," Daniel said, rising. "Like you."

Jack reared back, stared hard at Daniel. He looked like someone whose favourite lapdog just bit them, hard. "You know what?" Jack said softly. "Have it your way."

He stuck his hands in his pants pocket and after another glare at Peggy, swirled around and left with a purposefully casual gate, to show them how much he didn't care what they thought.

"Good riddance," Daniel said, slumping back down in his chair, expecting to feel relief that didn't come. His strange headache pulsed stronger than ever and he rubbed his brow.

Peggy glanced at him, but her look wasn't happy in the least. She looked irritated. "You don't need to fight my battles for me."

Daniel leaned forward, needing to fix it. "Look, I know he was your friend before this happened, but I can't watch him treat you like that!" 

Peggy's cheeks flushed. Puzzled for a moment, Daniel followed her eyes down and realized he'd grabbed one of her hands off the table and was clutching it in both of his.

He let go, as if scalded.

Peggy swallowed and lifted her dark eyes to his, looking up through thick eye-lashes.

Daniel forgot what they'd been talking about, and the funny thing was he thought Peggy did too.  


 

* * *

 

Daniel figured they'd seen the last of Jack as far as social interactions were concerned. He felt a twinge at the realization, mostly over the future possibilities and hopes that lay dashed at his feet. He wasn't ever going to be popular, he knew that, but being in Jack's company, in his circle, included in his jokes (even as a butt of them on several occasions) had elevated him, lent him an air of trendiness, coolness, that immeasurable something that made other classmates look at him with respect. That had been in short supply since his injury and Daniel had clung to it for the brief moments it lasted.

But he wasn't about to sacrifice Peggy's well being for a few moments of respect from strangers, so he had no regrets about calling Jack out on his bullshit.

With Jack avoiding them, even though Peggy was still hanging out with Daniel at lunch-breaks and after school, he was back to being that crippled kid that everyone looked at with pity in their eyes. Even Violet, who was the closest thing he had to a sister, went back to mother-henning him in ways that made him feel less like a man and more like a little boy.

And, of course, Krzeminski was back, accidentally bumping into him in the hallways.

Krzeminski was bulky in all the wrong places, and didn't seem to realize he sounded like a hyena when he laughed at his 'jokes' at Daniel's expense. His favourite joke was how little chance Daniel had with Peggy, considering her ex-boyfriend was, like, a Teen Idol or something.

After one such accident in the school hallways that nearly made Daniel spill his books and glare hotly in Krzeminski's wake, Peggy came over to take his hand and squeeze. "Alright?" she asked, studying him with those eyes that took his breath away.

After a moment, she prompted. "Daniel?"

"Uh. What was the question?"

She smiled. Peggy was just so.... Great.

The more he hung around her, the more he realized she was essentially perfect (and that for once Krzeminski was right, because Peggy was totally out of his league.) They were friends now, because Daniel was helping Peggy enact her dreams of being this century's Nancy Drew, and because he found that they worked surprisingly well together. Peggy had many girl friends, but none of them knew about her quest to bring Vernon down, so now that Daniel was in the know, the two of them had a reason to spend a lot of their time alone together, in the cafeteria, in the library, in the nearby park...

Jason and Angie made kissy noises at them, but Daniel ignored the teasing because those two didn't know he and Peggy had a practical reason to spend time together. If Jack suspected they were still investigating Vernon, he never let on, preferring to look too busy for conversation when they were nearby.

One such time as Peggy and him were strolling outside together during the lunch period discussing what they could do about Vernon, Peggy told him that she spent her evenings waiting in the car outside Vernon's office, following him at a discrete distance on his way home to see if she could catch him meeting someone he shouldn't have, catch some kind of a lead. She had a camera with her, in case she had to take compromising pictures, but so far it was all for nothing. At first Daniel couldn't help but be worried she'd get into some kind of trouble, but he knew if he expressed any of that concern Peggy would just think he didn't have faith in her, which was the last thing he wanted her to think, and also not true. He knew Peggy could take care of herself. He just thought she could use some backup.

"But...Stake-outs take time," she said gazing at him with surprise when he offered to go with her, "and exams are coming up. I couldn't possibly ask you too―"

"You're not asking, I'm offering," Daniel smiled earnestly. He hoped he didn't sound as love-sick as he felt; his heart literally hurt sometimes when he looked at Peggy. "Besides, I can study in the car, can't I?"

"...That's what I do," she admitted. And that was that.  


 

* * *

 

So now Peggy waited for him after classes and every day he rushed to get into the passenger seat of her practical green Crown Vic. 

Most of the school thought they were dating, and only Jack gave them long suspicious looks when they left together, though he didn't say anything.

Stake outs were a lot more boring than Daniel had imagined. These were hardly breathless moments of watching action unfold, or chasing criminals like he'd seen in the movies. Mostly he read his Physics textbook while Peggy watched Vernon's office, and then she studied Chemistry while he took over the watch. They shared ham and cheese sandwiches in the car and drank tea or coffee out of thermoses, and when Daniel mentioned that he felt like he was a junior cop in training, Peggy admitted to developing a disconcerting fondness for donuts.

Unfortunately, even though they were making good progress on their school work, there was hardly any progress on the case, even as they followed Vernon from his office to any of his appointments and staked out his house until later in the evening when the lights in the windows would go dark. About the only interesting thing that happened to them was a week ago, when Jack had stopped by Vernon's office one evening, making Peggy and Daniel hide out of view. He'd gone inside by foot and then he and Vernon came out together, going to a nearby restaurant for dinner. At least Jack hadn't noticed their car parked discretely on the opposite side of the street; they'd ducked just in time when his eyes passed them by. Even though Daniel knew that Vernon was a family friend, and that after the break-in at the Tower Jack had owed Vernon for not taking the matter to the police or telling his parents, it was still disturbing to see them being chummy together. 

Peggy and Daniel continued their evening stake outs, investigating any suspicious activity that could get them closer to solving the case. At some point Peggy had pretended to be a journalist student, visiting the construction foreman in prison, trying to get him to talk to her. She didn't get much out of him, other than he still claimed that the papers produced at the trial were false because he'd seen the originals with his own eyes. They'd borne Vernon's signature under the order for the faulty materials that caused the accident, but he had no proof and it was Vernon's word against his.

They discussed it again that evening, sitting outside Vernon's home in Peggy's car, but without proof they still had nothing. Vernon was meeting Whitney at a nearby motel as usual, and after a week of sleazy encounters when they'd watched the aspiring starlet pull him inside her hotel room through Peggy's telescopic camera lens, Peggy and Daniel stopped following him to the regular appointment at the motel, instead waiting up parked near his large house. They weren't sure what the point was anymore, since they had Vernon's schedule pretty well in hand by now, but it wasn't as if they had something better to do.

Peggy was reclining in the driver seat, eyes distant as she stared up at the roof of the car in thought. Over the time they'd spent together she told him a little bit about Michael, and how devastated she'd been after the accident that claimed his life at sixteen, younger than either of them were now. Her older brother had been her hero. He had wanted to work for the F.B.I. someday and would never get the chance. That was part of the reason that Peggy was like a bulldog with a bone when it came to seeing justice being done. When she looked as sad as she did now, for some reason Daniel always wondered if she was remembering her loss.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked, partly just to watch her nose scrunch up a little as Peggy teased:

"Only a penny?" But before he could respond, she sighed, still looking up, instead of at him. "I don't want to get you into trouble with this, Daniel."

"Hey, no," he rushed to assure. "It's my choice to be here."

"I know." She nodded. "But if something comes out of this investigation, you know it won't be without consequences. It'll be like a tidal wave. It's only gonna get more difficult, Daniel."

"Easier with two," he said. His voice had come out gruff, but it made her roll her head to the side to look at him, eyes soft. For a long moment they stayed like that in silence, leaning against the back rests looking at each other, then Daniel told his twisting gut to go to Hell and reached for her hand, taking it in his. "I'm in this with you till the end, Peggy."

Daniel thought that Peggy might kiss him, the way her eyes had slid down to his lips. His heart pounded in his ears. She was leaning in close.

The car door in the back opened with a sudden screech, making them both spring apart and turn to the back only to see Jack climbing inside, nonchalant.

"What are you doing here?" Were the first shocked words out of Peggy's mouth.

Jack had on a leather jacket, a black t-shirt and soft blue jeans. He sat with his hands squeezed together, leaning forward in the middle seat.

"There was nothing on TV so I thought I'd join you two for the only excitement in town. Any action?"

Daniel sputtered. "You can't just―" 

"Can't I?" Jack said glibly.

"You do realize the risks?" Peggy said, caution in her voice.

"Probably better than you do," Jack lobbed back. "But I'm here now. _Share._ "

After a moment of heavy consideration, Peggy shrugged and filled him in.

"So this is what you do every night? Sit here and listen to crickets?"

He had a right to be scornful. They could really use a break.

"Do you have a better idea?" Peggy said.

Jack tilted his head. "I dare you to go inside and look through his files."

"Jack, you can't be serious―"

Peggy's eyes widened and she overrode Daniel's concern. "Do you know the entrance code?"

Jack smiled an impish little smile. "That's what I spent the last week getting. Marilyn is still not very pleased with me but I managed to smooth things over for the time being." He stuck a hand in his pocket and pulled out a piece of slightly crumpled paper, handing it to her.

Peggy's face had lit up at the sight of the numbers written neatly on the scrap of paper. " _Jack_ , you know what this means? We could get a real break tonight."

"So you'll do it."

"Of course," Peggy said. She went to get out of the car, but stopped with one foot on the ground, turning to Daniel. "You don't think it's a good idea?"

Daniel rubbed his head, he was getting a headache. "Whitney is keeping him busy for another hour..." he allowed, but the doubt was clear in his voice.

"Daniel?" she said patiently, waiting for him to speak his mind. He didn't notice exactly when his opinion had become valuable to her, but now he had the responsibility to give it to her straight.

"It's just that..." He glanced nervously at Jack in the back seat, and despite the uncomfortable feeling in his gut, had to continue. "How do you know this isn't a setup? Jack appears and suddenly you have to go inside Vernon's house? That seem a little too convenient to you?"

Jack full-on pouted in the back seat. "Don't you trust me? I'm hurt."

"I don't trust you with Peggy's life."

"We could all go in together," Jack said. "But who'll man the getaway car in case something goes wrong? Do you even have a license?" he asked Daniel.

"Uh," Daniel blushed. He'd wanted to learn but his father's car had manual transmission and there was no way he was driving stick with his leg. As a result the whole idea had been shelved and forgotten for the time being. Now Daniel damned his past self for not preparing, left feeling like a fool in front of the two people who seemed to always have everything together.

"Jack, what made you change your mind?" Peggy said.

He met her eyes squarely. "You know about Whitney Frost?"

"Yes, she and Vernon are having an affair." 

"Rich for a guy with 'great family values', isn't it?" Jack looked unconcerned, but the tense line of his shoulders gave him away. "I over-heard them on the phone and afterward he lied to my face and said he was meeting a coworker. If he was lying about that, what else is he lying about?" Jack shrugged.

Peggy and Daniel shared a look.

"Well, Marge, it's on you now: do you think I'm telling the truth?" 

"Yes," she said briskly, nodding once and getting out of the car.

Jack blinked. He didn't say anything and didn't lord it over Daniel, which probably meant he was still unsure how to take that.

"Now we wait," Daniel leaned back against the seat, accepting her decision.

Peggy leaned down to look inside the car through the open window. " _Behave,_ " she said rather primly, giving each of them a stare, her gaze lingering perhaps a touch longer on Jack. 

"Yes, ma'am," Daniel couldn't help his smile. Jack tipped his chin.

Daniel lasted about a minute from when Peggy disappeared inside Vernon's house.

"You know we could get in serious trouble for this," he muttered, staring down the dark winding road ahead, to see if there were any headlights coming their way.

"Our very own sleuth detective is going to keep trying anyway. This way at least she's not completely on her own." Jack's voice was quiet in the stillness of the car. "We can back her up if things go wrong."

" _When_ things go wrong," Daniel muttered.

Jack gave a low laugh, but didn't dispute it. In the tense silence that followed, Daniel nursed a question that had been buzzing in his head all this while. 

"Do you honestly think Vernon's innocent?" It just popped out.

Jack didn't look at him, staring moodily out into the dark instead. "I think he's good friends with my father. I've known him since I was a kid. I'm pretty sure Marilyn's mother is convinced we're gonna get married one day, even though that's _so_ not happening. He's like an uncle to me."

"All of those are reasons for you to trust him," Daniel said. "But do you? In your gut."

Jack was silent.

Daniel twisted in the front seat, looking back at him, trying to read his shadowed eyes. "Just tell me. I want to know." He waited. "Whatever you say, I promise I won't ask again."

"Sure you won't," Jack snorted. "You're like a fucking conscience, always buzzing around with your right and wrong, trying to make the world a better place. You and Peggy deserve each other."

Daniel ignored that attempt to derail him. This wasn't about Peggy. "And what's your gut telling you?"

"You know it's a lot easier to say I do trust him. Simpler." Jack sighed and leaned back against the backseat. "But I'd be lying to myself and I'm trying not to do that for now."

"So then you know. That Peggy's doing the right thing," Daniel said.

"I _know_? What I _know_ is: I'm enabling you two chasing ghosts down into a pit of quicksand. I don't think I can trust anything my gut is telling me right now."

"Then trust _me_ ," Daniel said.

Jack hit his head softly against the back of the headrest, shutting his eyes.

"By the way," Daniel said conversationally, opening the car door and beginning to climb outside. "I'm going inside to help Peggy look for clues. You can wait here if you want or you can join us. Let me know what your gut says about that."

He shut the car door on Jack's indignant protest.  


 

* * *

 

Peggy had already disabled the alarm with the security code by the time Daniel and Jack made it inside. The way to Vernon's personal office at the back of the house was silent and they crept through the darkened rooms of the house without turning on any lights. Daniel tried not to look at the shadows creeping the walls, he had enough excitement in his life without imagining something lurking there.

Last time Peggy had a look at Vernon's sleek-looking computer she'd noticed he synchronized his accounts across multiple devices, so that was the first thing she went to check into when she got inside his office. Sliding smoothly behind the desk, tapping away at the keys with her red painted nails, a thrilled look of deep concentration on her face, Peggy was in her element. 

On the other side of the room Jack looked a little green. Still, he was here with them. That had to count. 

While Peggy played with the computer, Daniel looked for old-fashioned evidence in the drawers of Vernon's desk, old accounting books, tax forms, anything that would get them on the right trail. One thing they learned for sure, for someone so rich, Vernon sure wasn't eager to spend any of that money. His hard-drive wasn't encrypted and Peggy paired her phone to his computer via Bluetooth and was copying what she could to examine later.

"Keep in mind they never investigated him personally," Jack said. "The criminal case was always against the construction company Vernon hired. There is bound to be something here in his personal things." He had his back to them and was paging through one of Vernon's calendars looking for evidence of meetings, appointments, something that would serve as corroborating evidence for the story of the convicted construction manager.

"Noted," Peggy said laconically, sharing a look with Daniel, who only silently shook his head. Now that Jack was in on the action, he slipped into leader role as if he'd been there all along, instead of dragged there kicking and screaming by Peggy.

Jack didn't notice her tone or chose to ignore it, muttering under his breath. "What'd you leave behind, Vernon?"

"I've copied all his files that I could get to," Peggy said. "We can look through them later. He uses a local program to view his email." She wrinkled her nose. "Though I don't really want to see what kind of correspondence Hugh Jones is sending him."

That was as far as she got before the yellow porch light came on, throwing the shrubbery next to the window into sharp relief.

"He's back," Daniel looked wide-eyed at Peggy. She quickly unplugged her phone from Vernon's machine, and pulled her purse to her shoulder, ready to run.

"Well that was disappointingly short," Peggy said looking like she'd have spent a while yet digging through Vernon's stuff.

"I'm sure that's what Whitney Frost said," Jack snapped back. "He's got to have seen your car outside."

Looking at the state they left Vernon's office in, it was clear that as soon as he walked in he would know someone had been there. Daniel wasn't sure he could have run away in time even so, and he didn't want to find out if Vernon was a gun owner. He seemed like he would be, and bullets whizzing past their heads while Daniel tried to crutch faster wasn't his idea of a fun date. Jack seemed to have reached the same conclusion; his glance at Daniel's crutch was frustrated, but not without reason. Jack turned to Peggy.

"Get out of here!" he hissed at her, while Vernon's keys jangled against the living room table where he threw them carelessly. "Take the files and go. I'll spin something for Vernon."

There were footsteps down the hallway, coming their way.

"You've got to be dispassionate about this Peggy," Daniel said. "there's no sense in all of us getting caught."

She gave him one tormented glance before she grabbed her phone and ran out the back exit to the veranda that led out into the backyard. From there, she could circle the house and leave undetected.

Daniel heard rather than saw Jack duck out into the neighbouring en-suite before Vernon pushed the door open.

As stunned as Vernon looked to find Daniel standing still in the middle of his office, Daniel couldn't say he himself wasn't more surprised. That wasn't how he'd pictured his life going when he first met Peggy, all those weeks ago at a high school Truth or Dare game. His collar got tight and his breath quickened. He told himself to breath in. Breathe out. Swallow.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Vernon was by no means a man of intimidating size, but there was something about the way he carried himself, a certain menace in the expression of his eyes that made Daniel want to back up. Vernon looked about the room, looking for any other intruders in his home.

Daniel had to admit, his first uncharitable thought was that Jack had betrayed him and left. Except there Jack was, walking into the room, jabbering mid-sentence, "Have you seen―" his voice cut off when he spotted the older man. "Uncle Vernon?"

It was odd, Daniel looked at the surprise on his face and he knew with certainty that Jack was faking, but he couldn't have said what it was that made him believe it. Vernon clearly bought the lie, because he glowered at Jack.

"Jack. This is the company you keep nowadays?"

Jack seemed to unfreeze from where he stood in the doorway of the en-suite, taking his hands of the belt as if he'd been taking care of business. "They said you had something to do with those workers deaths," he said quietly, intently. "I told them you were innocent that they couldn't find any proof no matter how hard they looked."

Vernon studied him with eyes narrowed. "I may have underestimated you, Jack." He transferred his eyes to Daniel. "Where's the girl?"

"What girl?" Daniel asked mildly.

"She slipped out earlier," Jack put in helpfully, and wrinkled his nose at Daniel, "Guessing she dumped us, huh?" 

Vernon squinted at him and he didn't let the matter pass. "Did she take anything with her?"

"A couple of papers, and she said something about account sync with her phone," Jack said with a careless shrug. When Vernon frowned heavily, glancing at his computer with obvious concern Jack asked guilelessly. "What does it matter? Carter's off her rocker."

Worried that Jack was lathering it on too thick, Daniel jumped in, "What do you care? There's no proof of any wrong doing in those files is there?" To his side, out of Vernon's view, he saw Jack gave him a wide-eyed stare followed by an eye-roll. Too bad Daniel wasn't any good with deciphering subtle cues from Jack. What did Jack want him to do, stand quietly by while Vernon ran this show? Not happening.

Now he had his attention, Vernon turned to him. "Daniel, how old are you? Eighteen? Nineteen?"

"Eighteen," Daniel admitted. 

"Old enough to know better," Vernon said. "Jack and Miss Carter, on the other hand, are  
minors and will get off easy should things go that far. But not you. No," he shook his head, staring Daniel down, "You, they'll try as an adult."

"Try me for what?" Daniel blustered through the sinking feeling in his gut. "Peggy was never here. Jack invited me. He had the code. I had no idea―"

"Don't be foolish. It's my word against yours, and who do you think they'll believe. Some...students?" Vernon's eyes ran up the length of Daniel's crutch in a way that set Daniel's teeth on edge. 

"Breaking an entering is a serious crime. Now tell me where the girl is with my files, and I won't call the cops." Vernon walked to the desk and lifted the receiver as though setting to dial. Daniel drew himself up.

"It's you or her. What's it gonna be?"

"Come on, sir," Jack said from the side, as though it was obvious. "He's had stars in his eyes ever since Carter showed off her girlish smile. She says jump, he asks how high." Daniel wanted to protest, but something about the tense line of Jack's shoulders arrested him on the spot. He lowered his eyes, hoping Vernon would read embarrassment into the gesture.

"But not you," Vernon said, turning to consider Jack.

Jack shrugged. "I don't care who takes Carter to the prom." Daniel watched them from beneath his eyelashes, trying to keep up the meek appearance. "But your good opinion's important to me, sir."

"Smart," Vernon said with a derisive little smile. "I reward loyalty, you know that. Now tell me where the files are."

"She must have gone out to the car. I've got the keys so she can't have opened the door. How far can she run in high heels anyway? We'll catch her."

Daniel glanced up, unable to help himself. Jack met both of their stares, unflinching.

He said harshly, "The gig is up, Sousa. Time to play ball."

With difficulty, Daniel swallowed anything he had in response to that.

"Here are the keys," Jack casually took his hand out of his pant pocket, the car keys dangling on the ring. He shook them, like a cat toy. Vernon's beady eyes followed their tinkling movement. Jack stretched his hand out, clearly meaning for Vernon to take them and get the documents himself while they stood across the desk from each other. 

"You go on and get them for me, Jack," Vernon said instead.

"Yes, sir," Jack answered with gusto, and immediately left the room.

Daniel watched him go, torn between the desire to stop him and the need to come up with any excuse that Vernon would buy. There were no documents in the car. What had Jack planned with that little charade? Daniel turned to watch Vernon, who'd dismissed him by simply walking over to his desk and pouring himself a glass of the clear orange liquor ― likely the same rum Jack had been offering earlier ― before speaking, voice heavy with the disappointment directed at Daniel.

"There's still time to reconsider, you know. You could have a very bright future ahead of you."

"Who says I won't have one?" Daniel asked bluntly. He had no idea what Jack's play was but he was done mincing words.

Vernon turned to him and shook his head, taking a sip from his half-full glass.

"You don't look dumb," Vernon said conversationally. "You'd honestly accuse me of being responsible for the deaths of those people and not realize what it would entail if you were _right_? Does that seem like a good play to you?"

"It's true, isn't it?" Daniel asked. He was past being afraid for his own skin. The more Vernon threatened him, the more it emboldened him now. It was foolish, perhaps, but Daniel wasn't going to bend himself into a pretzel for this slime-ball of a man.

"As a matter of fact." Vernon sounded almost parental for a moment, like he was bringing Daniel into his world by lifting the curtain a bit. "Although believe me if I'd known how much bad publicity this would cause me I'd have done things differently. Well, live and learn."

"That's it? People lost their lives and you're sorry it cost you PR points?"

Vernon's gaze hardened. "You'll learn soon enough that there's the truth, and then there's what happened. I don't have to―" he stopped at the sharp buzzing of the phone.

For a moment they both glanced about for the source of the buzzing noise, Vernon looked spooked as his eyes fell on the little cell phone lying partially covered by the papers on his desk. He lifted it, whites showing around the eyes. "Live streaming―?" 

Then he chucked the phone with force into the wall. The delicate device clattered to the floor in pieces. " _Oh, Jack_..." Vernon murmured softly to himself.

Daniel straightened, clutching his crutch, adrenaline like electricity racing up his spine. They had him, didn't they? This meant...

At that moment, the door flew open and Peggy stood in the doorway, breathing harshly but with a victorious curl to her lips. Her eyes were shining as she looked to Daniel. "I knew we could count on you." She strode over to him, taking Daniel by the hand. He had for a moment this odd feeling like she was about to plant one on him, but Peggy only squeezed his hand warmly, staring him straight in the eyes with her own brown ones, completely delighted. Daniel felt his toes curl. Seeing her happy felt better than a kiss. "Let's go," Peggy said, motioning to the door. "Jack's waiting for us in the car."

"Now, wait here, missy..." Vernon started.

"I think you'd better get your affairs in order before police gets here," Peggy said crisply. "I have a feeling someone tagged that confession with the local police department and some major news outlets. You're about to get very busy very soon." 

Vernon stood pale and tight lipped. He drew a shaking hand to his pant pocket and pulled out his own phone. He stared Peggy dead in the eyes. "My lawyers are going to chew through you."

She met his stare and said slowly, calmly: "I'm not afraid of you."

She was ... _incredible_. Daniel couldn't believe he was holding her hand.

Vernon stood silent and white faced by his desk, still clutching his empty glass. Daniel was hoping he was picturing the shit-storm this would stir up on social media. Peggy tugged on Daniel's hand and he followed, unresisting. 

Outside, Peggy skipped down the two steps at the front door, and supported Daniel's via her hand as he made it down more slowly. She didn't let go all the way to the car, and Daniel wasn't about to mention it. He hoped his hand wouldn't go sweaty where it clutched hers. He tried not to think about what lay ahead, the police interviews, the explanation of how they'd extracted the confession. None of it was going to be easy, and they could still lose everything, but with Peggy's hand in his, Daniel didn't fear the coming future. Vernon could do his worst, they were still going to find a way through it. He heard Jack calling him Pollyanna in his head again, but it only made him smile.

"Together with the files, there's enough that he'll be digging himself out of this hole for some time yet." Peggy said as they reached the car. Jack was in the driver seat, head leaned back on the headrest, one hand hanging outside through the open window.

"Did you two plan it?" Daniel said as he got into the front seat, reluctantly letting Peggy's hand go as she got in the back.

"Winged it," Jack said with an edgy grin. He looked tired. "I left the phone on and hoped like hell nobody texts me. I knew you'd get a confession out of him somehow."

"How?" Daniel asked. "How did you know that?" He realized now that Jack had gotten Vernon to relax and assume he'd won, but still couldn't imagine how Jack had known Daniel would prompt Vernon into revealing himself.

Jack shrugged one negligent shoulder. "You've got that look. Plus, you told me to trust you." He shot Daniel a quick grin. It made the corners of his eyes crinkle with humour and eased some of the weariness previously on his face. In fact, Jack looked rather enigmatic as he considered Daniel's obvious confusion. It was the first time that Daniel had felt Jack knew something he didn't and the thought did not bother him much. In fact, he felt strangely warm under the gaze of those grey eyes.

After that quick moment blazed by, Jack started the car. He tapped the wheel with his fingers as they pulled away from the curb. "Now are you going to ask Peggy to the prom, or do I have to put up with the long looks the entire drive home?"

"Jack!" they chorused in dismayed unison. 

"Alright, alright, I'll let you pine at your own pace."

Rather than do that, Peggy put a hand on Daniel's shoulder, squeezing, and he caught her fingers in his own. Her hand slid into his grip like it belonged. For the first time in a long time, Daniel had no doubts about himself: he fit.

 

**Fin.**

**Author's Note:**

> So the entire thing was inspired by the image in my head of Jack and Peggy dancing on a rooftop while Daniel is recording (if you've seen that episode of _Highlander: The Series_ , think of Duncan and Amanda dancing on top of the Eiffel Tower) ...Then this happened. So I got to thinking what a teenage Peggy would be like in the modern day and I realized she'd be a teenage-sleuth in her own right. Faithful viewers of _Veronica Mars_ series will recognize a couple of homages to that show, such as Crown Vic being Peggy's car.
> 
>  _Jack: Our very own Veronica Mars!_  
>  _Daniel: You realize this makes you Backup, don't you?_  
>   
> 
> Thank you for reading. Feedback is loved!


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